Pink!

Visitors flock to the Western bank of the Thane Creek during the pre monsoon months, for one specific reason- to watch multitudes of pink flamingoes up close as they feed in the still waters till they migrate elsewhere. It’s a beautiful sight to see, they say.
Though initially skeptical about whether the much talked about spectacle really lived up to the hype, on one sunny day in May, we decided to take my folks out for a safari on the creek. The ride started with a magnificent view of mangrove forests on both sides and still clear waters all around. A little way farther in, we could see a long thin line of orange-ish pink at a distance, like some sort of boundary in the water. ‘Flamingoes!!’ people on the ferry were yelling. ‘That many?’ I thought. The guide told us to wait till a little bit more, and slowly as we approached that ‘line’, those tiny specks took the shape of pink flamingoes- hundreds of them. Soon we were surrounded by them and it was such a beautiful sight, we were speechless. As the motors of the boat whirled, the birds started taking off in flocks.. and the sky around us seemed like it was filled with tiny tongues of pinkish flames. They call it a ‘flamboyance’ of flamingoes, a distant memory from English classes at school reminded me. Truly, the whole sight was, let’s say.. flamboyant!
‘They’re not always this brightly coloured,’ the boat-driver said. ‘They come in a dull white colour, then over the months they breed here, they feed on the waste in the lake. That waste imparts this colour to them.’
Interesting, I thought. What he was trying to explain in the language he knew was that the algae (that grow from the sewage that flows into the creek), they feed on in the months they spend here, contain pigments called carotenoids that give them this beautiful orange-ish pink hue.
Now why did I just give you a zoology lesson?, you might be wondering.
Thing is that fact stayed with me as we left the place… of how beautifully God transforms them over the journeys that they take, and seasons in their lives, with the experiences they go through, imparting this beautiful colour that they acquire with the ‘waste’ they have to eat and the weather they’ve been in , that causes them to be a sight that people see and express their wonder at!
And my mind could only echo the song my mom was singing on the boat to herself as she beheld the beauty of it all- ‘ Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee; How great Thou art! How great Thou art!’

There are many times in our lives, when we wonder at the purpose of a particular experience we go through or a season in our lives. ‘Why did I have to go through this?’ we wonder. ‘Could there have been another way around this?’ ‘Why the waiting?’ ‘Why the pain?” Can’t it be any easier?’

Friend, the different experiences and seasons we go through- the singlehood, the waiting, the pain, the difficult relationship, the loss of a loved one, the closed doors after an interview, failed attempts, failures, difficult people, a sickness, a family falling apart, feeling anonymous – any of these and more- they are the times we wonder whether God really knows what’s happening down here… but take heart! For He assures us through His works in creation around us , and through His Word- that He’s transforming us into visions of beauty through all that we go through, as we rest in Him during times of doubt and testing.

Romans 8:17-18
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

Like how we marvelled at the greatness of God when we saw the flamingoes, may our lives cause people around us to marvel at God’s goodness and glory, as we go through different seasons in our lives, growing into the colours He intended for us to be.

“I am certain that I never did grow in grace one-half so much anywhere as I have upon the bed of pain.” – Charles Spurgeon